Would you like a rejection notice with that?

January 24, 2007 in HMB, litmags, online by | 3 comments

How long should it take a journal get back to people who’ve sent in submissions? Bookfox looks at his experiences and find Zoetrope — with a response time of 369 days — wanting. Here’s his tally:

I’ll have a tiny journal like Apple Valley Review reject my short shorts in less than a week, while a heavy hitter like Columbia Journal still hasn’t responded to a story I mailed out in January 2006 (and neither have they responded to email queries, and my last short story I sent them took a year and a half to receive a reply). On the other hand, Glimmer Train is practically a model for speed. Zyzzyva is another one that has been prompt, and as a plus, Howard Junker’s rejection slip is the nicest I’ve ever read. Kenyon Review and One-Story have both been pretty quick. I’ve had multiple relative die while waiting to hear back from The Chattahoochee Review (and still have an outstanding story. . .) and Notre Dame Review clocked in at a snail pace of 8 months and 9 months for two separate submissions.

So what’s the problem? Is it the volume of entries? The fact that once an issue’s stories are selected, editorial staff just want to move on?

Rest assured, you can submit to Hot Metal Bridge and you’ll hear back before any of your relatives die.

  1. howard junker’s avatar

    howard junker on January 24, 2007 at 1:16 pm

    yo, bridge:

    thanks for the shout out.

    but if you guys live near campus, that is, not on the West Coast, you shouldn’t be submitting to me in the first place. sorry.

    best,
    howard

  2. Liz Lopatto’s avatar

    Liz Lopatto on January 25, 2007 at 6:50 pm

    The volume is part of the problem. The budget is the other. It’s a dirty secret, but it’s true: most of these magazines don’t make money. They’re funded through grants and donations, not subscriptions.

    You have to pay people to read those stories. And there are a lot of them. But most lit mags have tiny budgets–so they can’t hire enough staff to read all the submissions. Even the “heavy hitters” have this problem.

    And then, for those that haven’t gone online, there’s the business of logging all the stories in, and then after they’re read, sending them back…

    Give the editors a break. They’re likely doing the best they can.

  3. Sergey’s avatar

    Sergey on February 25, 2009 at 12:30 pm

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